Near
the end of October, we will mark the twenty-third anniversary of a
momentous American victory . . . a military operation that not only warmed
Ronald Raygun's cold, cold heart but was also deemed film-worthy by the
former mayor of Carmel, California. Yes, of course, I'm talking about the
October 25, 1983 “liberation” of Grenada.

In March 1979,
socialist leader Maurice Bishop took over Grenada in a bloodless coup.
Once deemed “a lovely piece of real estate” by U.S. Secretary of State
George Shultz, Grenada is a small East Caribbean island of some 133 square
miles and 110,000 inhabitants. Half of its nationals live in the People's
Republic of Brooklyn.

The U.S. worked to
destabilize the Bishop regime but, in early October 1983, he was
ultimately deposed and later murdered by a group even more to the "Left"
than he. That's when America decided to risk awakening this sleeping
Caribbean flea by launching a preemptive military strike.

Raygun declared that
the invasion was "forced on us by events that have no precedent in the
eastern Caribbean," leaving the U.S. with "no choice but to act strongly
and decisively." (Sound familiar?) After adding the obligatory statements
about Soviet and Cuban designs on the island, the Great Communicator sent
roughly 2000 American Marines in to lead an operation called "Urgent
Fury." The fighting was over in a week. Casualties included 135 Americans
killed or wounded along with 84 Cubans and some 400 Grenadians dead.

A Wall Street
Journal headline blared: U.S. INVADES GRENADA IN WARNING TO RUSSIA AND
CUBA ABOUT EXPANSION IN THE CARIBBEAN. It was also a warning to potential
critics.

“The invasion was already under way, so even
if we opposed it, there was nothing any of us could do,” Democratic House
Speaker Tip O'Neil said at the time. “I had some serious reservations, and
I'm sure my Democratic colleagues did as well, but I'd be damned if I was
going to voice any criticism while our boys were out there.” (Sound
familiar?)

Let's not forget the
“Grenada 17.” Amnesty International's UK media director, Lesley Warner,
wrote in 2003 that these 17 prisoners were “initially held without charge
in cages, before being tried before an unfair, ad-hoc tribunal. They were
denied access to legal counsel and to documents needed for their defense.
After sentencing, the Grenada 17 were held in tiny cells with lights left
permanently on.” (Sound familiar?)

Raygun stopped short
of donning a flight suit but did make a speech on the fourth day of the
invasion which, according to journalist William Blum “succeeded in giving
jingoism a bad name.”

“The president
managed to link the invasion of Grenada with the shooting down of a Korean
airliner by the Soviet Union, the killing of U.S. soldiers in Lebanon, and
the taking of American hostages in Iran,” says Blum. “Clearly, the
invasion symbolized an end to this string of humiliations for the United
States. Even Vietnam was being avenged. To commemorate the American
Renaissance, some 7,000 U.S. servicemen were designated heroes of the
republic and decorated with medals. (Many had done no more than sit on
ships near the island.) American had regained its manhood, by stepping on
a flea.”

It's all too
familiar...

Mickey Z.
is the author of several books, most recently 50
American Revolutions You're Not Supposed to Know
(Disinformation Books). He can be found on the Web at:
www.mickeyz.net.